Paper currency or cash is still extensively used in supermarkets, restaurants and other high volume retail stores in malls, for example. However, from a retailer's point of view the use of cash can present problems associated with security and efficient handling.
One procedure is to permit cash collected in the course of a business day to be put in a secure local storage device such as a deposit safe. Safes are well known devices for storing valuables that generally comprise a reinforced container made from a strong steel or concrete, and having a door with internal or heavily reinforced hinges. The stored cash may then be retrieved from the safe periodically by security personnel, such as armed security guards, and taken away.
This procedure has several problems. For example, the security guards may not arrive to retrieve the deposits until the next day, or even later. Thus there can be a delay between receiving the payments and getting credit for the same, since the payments may not arrive at the bank until a day or two after it is received from the customer. The delay may be even longer if the armoured vehicle picks up various loads from various deposits from different institutions. This could impose yet a further intervening step of unloading the deposits at a central site, sorting according to eventual destination, and re-loading onto another truck for delivery to a financial institution.
This unknown float while the payments are in transit has several negative aspects including that there is a loss of float interest by the owner. Since the payments have not been credited, they are also not available to help fund current operations. Further, the funds represented by this cash-in-transit may not be accurately known to the owner, thereby compromising the owner's ability to maintain tight financial controls.
Yet another issue is that a given retailer may be receiving various forms of payment, including payments by cheques or the like. These are typically bundled together with the cash and not separated until the acceptance checking at the financial institution. The mixing of cash and cheques can delay processing.
Some of these issues have been partly addressed in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,122, discloses a currency receiving device comprising a safe with an attached currency counter and having a currency receiving opening with a retractable cover, to selectively provide access to the interior of the safe. Cash placed for deposit is counted and then passed from the currency counter to the safe through the currency receiving opening. The patent further teaches a removable currency receptacle made of heavy gauge steel, placed in the safe, to receive the currency.
This patent teaches a device that may enable regular cash deposits to be made into the safe while the main access door is kept closed and locked. The removable receptacle is a more convenient and secure enclosure to use to transport cash from the safe to the bank depository. However, this solution is limited to cash only situations and does not accommodate mixed cash and cheque receipts.
A more recent Canadian patent application 2,312,275 teaches a single currency receiving device which differentiates between cash and cheques. In this device a separate safe for each of cash and cheques built into the housing for the unit. The cash is counted as it is placed in the unit, to provide instant credit to the customer. The device includes a user interface, so the user can communicate deposit information such as the value of a cheque deposit, and includes a connection to a remote computer which will permit a bank, for example, to give instant credit to the customer for the amount of the cash or cheque deposit. An identifier is used on the cash receptacle to permit the receptacle to be tracked through the financial system. Thus, the receptacle is identified upon being placed in the device and its removal is also recorded and tracked electronically.
However, while this device works well in some situations it has certain limitations. For example, the cheques are dropped into the cheque safe through an open throat, which is not the most secure configuration. Further, the combination of having two safes (one for cash and one for cheques) in a single housing incorporating the user interface as well, is too limiting. What is desired therefore is a more flexible equipment design which is more secure and which can be easily adapted to different configurations to suit various transaction volumes or customer demand.